In pure ebook publishing, reputation will be everything.

[dsrtao]

Let's start a thousand pure ebook publishers. They all start out as small startups -- one to three partners -- and adequate funding. Their mission: to make enough money to survive and thrive in the world of selling ebooks.

Some of them try to replicate traditional publishing, in which the good taste of one or a few editors determines the selection of investments:

Costs:
- slushpile reading
- editorial selection
- proofreading and continuity
- editorial advising
- formatting
- web service
- programming
- office stuff (banking and incorporation and insurance...)
- attracting new writers
- attracting customers

Others will try to do it in a new-fangled method with people voting on the slushpile, which slashes editorial costs by substituting the vox populi. (This is not a recipe for getting a new Jay Lake or Walter Jon Williams or Daniel Abraham: this is a recipe for getting a dozen imitators of Twilight).

Costs:
- web service
- programming
- proofreading and continuity
- formatting
- office stuff
- attracting new writers
- attracting new customers
- attracting slushpile readers

Some will be even less than that: with no editorial costs at all, they will be a combination of catalog and review-publishing service.
Imagine Amazon, if it offered nothing at all but electronic delivery of ebooks, with the same deal open to everyone who could fill out a form: XX% of the price you set, payable via PayPal every $50 or remainder if you close your account.

Costs:
- web service
- programming
- office stuff
- attracting new writers
- attracting new customers
- attracting new reviewers

In all of these three cases, all other things being competent, I believe the reputation of each firm will determine market position.

Comments

[be-well-lowell.livejournal.com]

I think your thesis fails to account for the influence of third party reviewers.